Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[fowlman01]

Yard full o' rocks :

Afternoon folks.....preparing for snow here (you folks up north will just laugh at us) but we are expecting an inch of ice then 4-6" of snow. WACKY weather for us and NO equipment to deal with it. Oh well....we have 1/2 cord of wood on the back porch and plenty of groceries.

Now, back to the topic of chickens. I've been wondering where all you experts with MANY yrs of expertise are on this question. Keeping in mind that we want to breed for resistance and vigor, exactly what do you "treat" your birds for, if anything?

Do you immunize and/or treat for:

Cocci (other than giving chicks medicated feed)
Mareks
Respiratory infections?
Worms/regular wormings? If so, when and how frequently, with what?
Etc
Etc

Hatching season is right around the corner and I want to start out on the right foot....

I hear from some folks that they won't treat for ANYTHING, that if you accept/treat sick birds, then you will always have sick birds.

So, Walt, Bob, Chris, Saladin, Jim etc, etc....what do you folks say?

Thanks folks!!

Scott

I don't medicate for anything. I do worm the chickens every six months or so. I know this is a controversial subject, but I very seldom have a bird die here unless it gets hit by a car or dies of old age. I show my birds in virtually every show in CA and other than an occasional parasite, I don't have any problems. Now, part of this could be luck, but most of it is that my birds are almost bulletproof. The birds that had a propensity to Mareks are long gone. You can have a strain that will not get it even if you have a full blown case of mareks in a bird in the same cage. That is when I realized it is a strain specific problem that you could breed resistance to....or better yet find a strain that is resistant to it. I do start out with medicated feed to start the chicks to get them strong enough to expose/challenge them. After that they most likely will not have a problem with cocci.

I hardly ever have a sick bird and on those rare occasions when I do it is culled immediately.

This is what I do and it works for me here on this property and this climate. It makes my life a lot easier.

Walt​

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Quote:
I don't medicate for anything. I do worm the chickens every six months or so. I know this is a controversial subject, but I very seldom have a bird die here unless it gets hit by a car or dies of old age. I show my birds in virtually every show in CA and other than an occasional parasite, I don't have any problems. Now, part of this could be luck, but most of it is that my birds are almost bulletproof. The birds that had a propensity to Mareks are long gone. You can have a strain that will not get it even if you have a full blown case of mareks in a bird in the same cage. That is when I realized it is a strain specific problem that you could breed resistance to....or better yet find a strain that is resistant to it. I do start out with medicated feed to start the chicks to get them strong enough to expose/challenge them. After that they most likely will not have a problem with cocci.

I hardly ever have a sick bird and on those rare occasions when I do it is culled immediately.

This is what I do and it works for me here on this property and this climate. It makes my life a lot easier.

Walt

Thanks Walt.....BTW what do you use to worm with?

Thanks again

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Quote:
What amazes me is how so many folks look at Leghorns and bantams and ask about what to do with their culls. How many raise quail? There is more meat on our Buckey Bantams than any quail I have ever seen. The cornishX is by far the most economical to raise for meat. You may have to place a bantam or small breed chicken in a slow cooker, but it is still good meat. I understand why folks ask. They have never slow cooked a couple of bantam roosters in a cream of chicken base.

Ingredients:

2 or 3 Bantam culls, dressed and cleaned
2 cans of Cream of Chicken soup
1 can Cream of Celery soup
1 cup of frozen Peas and Carrots
2 or 3 cups of rice (raw, instant or brown)
Salt or Seasoned salt to taste (Lawry's is best)

Place whole Bantams in slow cooker. In sepearte bowl mix soup and water per directions on can. Add salt or seasoned salt to soup. Stir soup with wisk. Add peas and carrots to soup. Add soup to slow cooker and cook on low for at least 2 hours. Add rice to slow cooker, spreading rice around chicken. Continue to slow cook until rice is fully cooked.

This recipe also works well with Leghorns, old hens and that mean rooster that just attacked your shins!

Punky, you will greatly enjoy eating the Buckeye Bantam. I would wait until they are at least 6-8 months old to cull. Then they will be nearly full size. Hope this recipe helps! My kids love any chicken cooked this way. On Sunday mornings we will start the chicken mix early and just before leaving for Sunday school will add the rice. When we get home dinner is ready!

 

[Robert Blosl]

Quote:
Today:I want some of you who read this thread every day to read my first message. We started this thread to help people find a way to get into breeding and trying to keep old type breeds of chickens that where raised by so many great women and men in the glory days of poultry the 1950s.

Since then so many strains that I know of are gone. Only maybe one person has barred rocks from Ralph Sturegeon. The old Mrs. Donaldson line of Rhode Islands that she sold to hundreds in the glory days only one or two have her pure line.

The rest of the strains are much like this weak or almost gone. Where will the next person come and and set goals to try to keep the gene pools going?

We cant count on the hatcheries to do this. They have given us birds that are all washed out in color and very little breast meat to give them shape. They are breed for egg production which most of the members of this big web site wants more than anything.

So if you want to locate and try to help friends find the lost breeds out here we can. If you want to vent your problems on this thread to turn us off please find another thread.

We are here to help people. I could write a book on how rude the phone calls my wife gets from you chicken people who want me to tell you where you can find these so called rare breeds of chickens many that I have never seen or heard of.

In regards to the poutlry press it is not going to teach you how to be a master breeder. It is a newspaper that has pictures and names of breeders who who the strains of birds you may want. There are artilces by breed clubs on what is going on in thier clubs. That is about it and some ads who has birds forsale

One thing I have learned over the last ten years is do not share your best birds with others who want them. The odds are in three years these great birds will be dead and the person who got them will be out of chickens.

In 22 years I have sold 93 people my R I Reds. I have only TWO TWO TWO people who have my line who have breed them for over ten years. I cant even find a person who has them a flock mated in the boon docks.

So if you want to get back on the right track and promote old fashion poultry lets do it.

Thanks Al for the pictures of your wonderful White Cornish.

Its refreshing to see some nice large fowl again on this site.

bob

 

[al6517]

Bob : very well said................ we as good intentioned Heritage breeders really don't want to be rude when we recieve calls or inquiries regarding selling our stock, but like you said alot of these folks don't care about that and we do. I always interogate folks as to what they are intending to do with my birds, if the answers doesn't suit me, I don't let my birds go. We after all want foremost to preserve our breeds for the reasons you mention and those intentions are Admirable, but to let birds go only to know that they will get lost in the shuffle is irresponsible on our part and in no way helps our preservation efforts.

AL

 

[fowlman01]

some WLR Cornish large fowl .....don't have them anymore, but they were fun.

Walt

 

[Wynette]

Quote:
Bob - this is a sad post for me. I have followed this thread daily...I do not post very often, but come here to get refreshed from the "eggs eggs eggs" type areas of the forum. But, to say that most folks on BYC are mostly concerned about eggs, I think is not correct. I could be wrong, but I hope not! I feel like the longer you are invovled in poultry, the more you learn to cherish the heritage breeds. That has been so with me, as well as many of the friends I've made on here. I truly love my silver penciled rocks, but I also truly enjoy my "olive eggers" and exchequer leghorns! I enjoy them each for different reasons.

However, what worries me the most in your post is stating "do not share your birds with others who want them" - you have sold to 93 folks, and only have TWO left breeding them. Well, that is most definitely a true shame! However...those two....they would not be breeding them if they hadn't gotten them from you in the first place! I feel like we need to spread the word more, tout the advantages of owning Heritage breeds, show folks why owning them is such a joy! It's super easy to get discouraged these days, it's true. It bothers me when I get e-mails of folks asking "how big do they lay" and "how many eggs per week do they lay" - I'm just super honest with them! Right off the bat, I tell these folks that THESE birds were not bred for exceptional laying ability - there are five criteria that I personally choose from BEFORE laying ability. I come right out & tell folks that if they are looking for a chicken that lays huge amounts of super big eggs, they need to go to a hatchery. If, however, they are looking for chickens that are hardy, disease resistant, forage well, and are large and beautiful, then look no further!

ETA: Regarding rude phone calls...well goodness, that's just plain wrong. I can't believe folks will take the time to make such a silly call. I'm sorry you are receiving such calls!! But, I suppose it could be looked at as a teaching opporunity? Just a thought!

 

[Wynette]

Walt, those Cornish are beautiful birds!

 

[punky rooster]

I agree wynette

 

[NotAFarm]

Quote:
Bob - this is a sad post for me. I have followed this thread daily...I do not post very often, but come here to get refreshed from the "eggs eggs eggs" type areas of the forum. But, to say that most folks on BYC are mostly concerned about eggs, I think is not correct. I could be wrong, but I hope not! I feel like the longer you are invovled in poultry, the more you learn to cherish the heritage breeds. That has been so with me, as well as many of the friends I've made on here. I truly love my silver penciled rocks, but I also truly enjoy my "olive eggers" and exchequer leghorns! I enjoy them each for different reasons.

However, what worries me the most in your post is stating "do not share your birds with others who want them" - you have sold to 93 folks, and only have TWO left breeding them. Well, that is most definitely a true shame! However...those two....they would not be breeding them if they hadn't gotten them from you in the first place! I feel like we need to spread the word more, tout the advantages of owning Heritage breeds, show folks why owning them is such a joy! It's super easy to get discouraged these days, it's true. It bothers me when I get e-mails of folks asking "how big do they lay" and "how many eggs per week do they lay" - I'm just super honest with them! Right off the bat, I tell these folks that THESE birds were not bred for exceptional laying ability - there are five criteria that I personally choose from BEFORE laying ability. I come right out & tell folks that if they are looking for a chicken that lays huge amounts of super big eggs, they need to go to a hatchery. If, however, they are looking for chickens that are hardy, disease resistant, forage well, and are large and beautiful, then look no further!

ETA: Regarding rude phone calls...well goodness, that's just plain wrong. I can't believe folks will take the time to make such a silly call. I'm sorry you are receiving such calls!! But, I suppose it could be looked at as a teaching opporunity? Just a thought!

Wynette, I agree with most of what you say here,....but....Bob said "do not share your BEST birds with others who want them" (emphasis mine). I think what he is saying is to share and then see what happens. Saving your best until you know the person is serious and committed. I don't want to put words in Bob's mouth but he didn't say not to share, just not to share your best. Mary